Church of Carmen 5 August 2013.
There are occasions in which a singer can do to turn the tide of any programming in an opera theatre or at a festival, as it is the case that concerns us now. Some of this is what has happened with the result of the recital of Piotr Beczala last night in Perelada, where triumph slat rose to unexpected heights.
My 3 day around here offered the attraction of seeing the sparsely represented Das Liebesverbot, in addition to Norma with Sondra Radvanovsky. In the Middle, as a kind of attractive complement, was the recital of Piotr Beczala. In view of the result there is no doubt that the Polish tenor has become the great benchmark for the festival and great will need to be the success of Norma tonight to not stay in the shade.
Piotr Beczala is one of todays great tenors, although not come preceded by reel media. Its beautiful purely lyric tenor voice, its homogeneity of records, his singing technique and his great professionalism are attributes that very few singers can offer as it. On this occasion I have found him in an spectacular vocal way, as never before, without that thing of him we could notice of the trend to his high notes remaining somewhat behind. Superb voice, expressiveness, and without the slightest problem throughout a demanding program, which will remain in the memories of the lucky spectators yesterday we enjoyed with his voice and his art.
The concert consisted of three very distinct parts. The first dedicated to the lied, the second to the opera and the third – tips – to the pure brilliance of the singer.
In the exultant State where Beczała is, is not strange that the second part of the programme – dedicated to the opera – would have been a great success, but is that in the first, where All he had to do is to say and sing, was unbeatable.
There were no fireworks in the first part of the program, but a collection of songs beautifully exposed by Beczała, starting with Adelaide of Beethoven, where already one began to sense that the overall result could be splendid. 8 Robert Schumann songs allowed us to discover an extraordinary liederist, who reached its peak on the 5 songs of his compatriot Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, where he was unbatable. He completed this first part with 3 precious lieder by Richard Strauss, perfectly interpreted.
The second part had the opera thread and here is where Beczała was in an exceptional way. It began with two arias from Verdi, which streaked at high altitude. It was Di tu se fedele, of Un Ballo in Maschera, and the mia letizia infondere of Il Lombardi, particularly brilliant in the latter. That followed with the lament of Federico from L’arlesiana of Cilea, more in a verist line than in the sweetened Tagliavini. Then provided us the beautiful India song from the opera Sadko, Rimsky-Korsakov, which was followed by an excellent interpretation of E lucevan le stelle from Tosca by Puccini. Before reaching the end, he recreates himself in the music of his country, in a magnificent performance of an aria from the opera, Janek, of the Zelenski. He ended with a spectacular performance from Dein ist mein ganzes Herz, from the operetta Das Land des Lachelns, from Franz Lehár, which was next to the unique interpretation for me of Jussi Bjorling.
As tips he offered us a brilliant interpretation of the Neapolitan song Cuore ingrato, Salvatore Cardillo, which was followed by the aria of Romeo et Juliette by Charles Gounod, Ah! Lève-toi, soleil, which was unbeatable. It ended with the famous Napolitan song O sole mio, Eduardo di Capua, in which he made a spectacular and very personal version.
We must also highlight the good work of piano accompaniment of Kristin Okerlund.
The Church of Carmen was nearly full in its 400 localities and the public spent Beczała ovations and continuous cheers, ending with the audience standing. A large artistic and popular success.
The recital began with 6 minutes late and had a total time of 1 hour and 47 minutes, including an intermission. The official program lasted for 67 minutes, while tips extended concert 20 additional minutes.
The price of the most expensive seat was 50 euros, costing 30 euros the chairs furthest away from the altar, which was the place where Beczala was singing.
I must finish saying that the voice came with a strange and rather annoying reverb until one got used to it.
In summary, a great concert with an exultant Beczała.
José M. Irurzun
Traducción. María Garcia-Rosado
